Originally Posted by Bostonian
Originally Posted by Cricket2
I don't know. Maybe I am thinking that graduating high school at 16 as my oldest will, with a lot of AP classes and in the top chunk of the class, if not as the valedictorian, might look as impressive to scholarship committees and colleges as graduating as the valedictorian at 19.

I don't see where age or date-of-birth is requested on the Common App
https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2012/2012PacketFY_download.pdf , and since older students will not call attention to their age, I don't think 19-year-olds are penalized by admissions or scholarship committees. Younger students can choose to mention their age in their essays, but I don't know if they get any credit for this.

If anything being younger is probably a strike against a candidate. But, younger students can absolutely be highly ranked and have great test scores - in fact most of them probably do or they wouldn't have been skipped in the first place.

Valedictorian status doesn't typically factor into college admissions as the results aren't available until after college decisions are made anyway.